Page:Field key to the land birds .. (IA fieldkeytolandbi00knob).pdf/52

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FIELD KEY TO THE LAND BIRDS

FIELD KEY TO THE LAND BIRDS.

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and ponds. He leaves his perch to catch passing insects, and returns to the same spot. He is a determined foe to crows and hawks, which, though double his size, he drives from his quarters. His nest is usually on some branch overhanging the water. A rivers,

common summer

bird.

OLIVE-SIDED FLYCATCHER. realis.

— Length,

T.J

inches.

Contopus

ho-

Resembles the Kingbird

and is dark gray all over, except the throat, and behind the wing, where he is white. Rare, 41. CRESTED FLYCATCHER. Myiarchus crifiitus. Length, 9 inches. Gray-brown above tail red-brown throat and bi-east gray belly yellow. His

in shape, belly,

habits are similar to those of the Kingl)ird, except that he prefers the tops of trees. He has a peculiar fashion of lining his nest with cast-off snakeskins.

43.

PHOEBE, PEWEE.

Saynornis plwehe.— Blackish gray above underparts soiled white, gray, and yellow ; no wing bars. Always untidy looking. One of the earliest birds to arrive in the spring. He builds his nest in the barn or woodshed, raising two or three broods a year in the

Length, 7 inches.